Unmissable show?

Call The Midwife. I think it's because I find it a pleasing little retro world. I remember my mum used to love Heartbeat and I used to take the piss out of her for it – "What is it about the modern world you can't cope with" – but now I'm just like her!

Bring back…

Educating Marmalade. It was a kids' programme which starred Charlotte Coleman. She played a rebellious teenager. I suppose it was Tracy Beaker for the 80s. The programmes I used to watch as a kid were that, Metal Mickey, Supergran. Bring them all back!

TV turn-off?

I used to watch soaps, but now I find them too bleak. I would watch EastEnders religiously, and I thought the acting and writing was so good – and it might still be – but these days I just can't sit down and put myself through that level of trauma for half an hour each night. I also don't like programmes that celebrate bullying, like The Apprentice or Simon Cowell's shows. We teach our kids not to be bullies and then we watch people get bullied on TV. Maybe I'm being a bit happy-clappy, but I find it an odd culture.

Pitch us a TV show…

I love Girls. I just watched the whole first two seasons in a week. So I'd love to see a British equivalent of that, because I don't really think we've achieved something so well-observed, so well-written, funny and frank. I just thought, 'What a great example of one person's vision; Lena Dunham wasn't interfered with, she was left to it. It would be amazing to see something like that made here. It feels to me that in this country there's a lot of interference when it comes to some people's writing. Things get watered down and distorted.

Mastermind specialist subject?

The British comedy circuit from 2001 to 2014. I'm a bit of a comedy geek. I wish I could say "The paintings of Turner", but I'm very lowbrow!